


Taking a Shot

by Flammenkobold



Series: Taking a Shot [1]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Chuck Lives, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Parallel Universes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-24
Updated: 2014-08-24
Packaged: 2018-02-14 13:07:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2192925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flammenkobold/pseuds/Flammenkobold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In another world Angela Hansen loses her husband to Scissure. In another world she and her son Charlie pilot Striker Eureka and detonate the payload to clear a path for the Lady.</p>
<p>Afterwards, when she wakes up again, she finds herself in a world that she is pretty sure isn't the Afterlife. For one thing, Herc looks far older than she remembers and for another, he calls their son Chuck.</p>
<p>Or: How to build a new family and make friends the Hansen style – by punching people in the face.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Taking a Shot

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kuro49](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuro49/gifts).



> A lot of thanks to Kuro, who not only created this beautiful piece of art for this fic, but who was also a great cheerleader and helpful beta reader!

 

\---

Angela Hansen loses her husband to Scissure. She almost loses her son because of her own anger. She does what Herc would've done and signs up for the Jaeger program, eager to spill the blood of the monsters that took her husband. It's only when Charlie insists on joining the program, at the tender age of thirteen, rage in his voice and betrayal in his eyes, that she remembers that she needs to be a mother too and not just a ranger.

She can't keep him from becoming a pilot but she can mend their relationship and be there for him on his way. He's his father's son and his mother's boy and there is nothing in the world that could keep him out of a cockpit. She tells him how proud she is of him and how much she loves him every day. It never becomes meaningless.

Angela pilots with Scott at first, the only other family she and Charlie have left. Her's only consist of two dead brothers, a father who's too drunk to remember he has a daughter and the distant memory of jittery hands and a flowery perfume. Scott's consist of two dead parents and an equally dead brother. They are a good fit not only because of the specter of Herc between them, but they are both messed up in similar ways. Of course, Scott has to take it up a notch and screws up in the most royal way and, of course, it has to come out in the drift while fighting a bloody Kaiju. She beats him to a pulp. He survives it, of course. Angela makes sure he wishes he hadn't. She can be vindictive when she wants to be.

Striker Eureka is a beautiful sight to behold, but she's nothing compared to the smile on her son's face when he's told that he's the one going to pilot her. He's too young, but they need a pilot, and their drift compatibility is unparalleled. Even the Becket Boys got nothing on them, she thinks proudly and squashes her own fears and doubts. One of the Becket Boys is dead, after all.

They are losing.

Her and Charlie hold the front line while more and more pilots around them fall. Charlie and her agree that the Wall is a terrible joke and that cutting down the Jaeger program is a colossal mistake the size of a yet to be seen Category V. They tell that to everyone who'll listen and to everyone who doesn't. They never say it out loud that they both blame the pilots for it, who failed to adapt to the new world.

\---

Angela was raised on military bases before her father got kicked out of the corps. She was raised more like a boy than a girl and the most influential female role model she had was Buffy the Vampire Slayer on TV. She can throw punches like the best of the military men and her father taught her to take a hit without making a sound. Her mother taught her how to hide the bruises.

When she met Herc for the first time it was in a bar and he was still a jerk with a chip on his shoulder.

She worked shifts to afford university and poured everything she had into crawling out of the life she was hell bent on leaving behind. Scott slapped her rear and she rammed her elbow into his nose, sending him to the floor, cursing him and his sorry arse. Herc had laughed and left her a tip twice the amount they had to pay for the drinks.

“Nice move, sweetheart."

“Call me that again and you can join your friend on the floor.”

It was love at first sight.

\---

During the Glory Days Raleigh Becket was a shining star, the hope of an entire generation. Angela always liked him, but respected his brother more. The young man that reminded her of Herc on his good days. But Yancy Becket is dead, like so many other pilots and Raleigh Becket is a relict now.

Mako Mori is the brightest of her generation and could easily rival Charlie. She is a rookie though.

They make for a terrible combination and if it weren't for her feeling sorry for Raleigh's loss and having known Mako for years, she would have screamed it in Stacker's face. Instead she and Charlie quietly shake their heads at them, disappointment visible. Mako looks ashen. She has set high standards for herself and failed. She knows that Angela and Charlie had high hopes for her too, and perhaps their disapproval hurts almost as much as Stacker Pentecost's disappointment.

Mako and Charlie have always had the kind of friendship that is built on mutual respect and fierce rivalry. Sometimes Angela thinks that there could've been more, but both kids are too focused on fighting monsters and being the best, that it leaves little room for much else. Sometimes she hopes there will be time after the war ends. Leatherback reminds her that there won't be.

When Mako and Raleigh arrive in a rebuilt Gipsy Danger and save the day, Angela and Charlie cheer them on while they kick Kaiju arse.

\---

They only have two Jaegers left and the prognosis for Operation Pitfall, always grim, turns into nearly impossible. She and Charlie don't talk about it. Despite their plans for a future they both were always aware that Operation Pitfall was a suicide run.

They both know they'll see Herc far too soon.

Stacker offers to take her son's place, but as much as she wants him to have a future, she knows he won't leave her side. You don't abandon your Co-pilot. Not ever. Besides, their chances are bad enough, no need to lower them even further by separating their best Jaeger team.

When they get torn apart by the first Category V ever and it becomes clear that they have to adjust the plan for the bomb drop, they don't hesitate.

"My husband used to say, if you have a shot you take it," she tells Gipsy and LOCCENT.

"Mum," Charlie says and looks at her. "It's been a pleasure."

She chokes up, unable to say anything and so she just nods, her baby boy knows anyway. He's always known.

They detonate the payload together, one last screw you to those ugly motherfuckers.

\---

When she wakes up, she and Charlie are on the other side and Herc is there. Everything is wrong though, because this? Sure as hell isn't the afterlife. For one thing, Herc looks older and sadder than she can remember, and for another, he calls their son Chuck.

"If this is some sick kind of joke, mate," she hisses and flicks his chest with her finger, putting herself between him and her son, "You're going to wish you were never born."

Herc's laughter is broken. "You know, I was thinking the same."

"Mum?" Charlie asks, quizzically, assessing the situation and towering over her shoulder. She might always put herself between him and harm's way, but he always has her back. Herc looks like someone punched him in the gut.

\---

It's Mako who suggests they drift, to see if the stories they told each other are true. Neither of them so far truly believes the other.

"For once: chase the RABIT, Hansens," Tendo tells them and they do. It feels like being ripped open again, losing her husband all over again, except it's her who dies in Sydney. It's Charlie – Chuck, that is the most painful thing though.

_"Catch you in the drift, dad," Chuck says with all the venom he has._

_"Catch you in the drift, mum," Charlie says good naturedly._

_"That's my son," Herc tells Stacker, unable to look directly at Chuck._

_"That's my son," Angela tells Charlie, looking at him._

_"-, if you have a shot you take it."_

When they disconnect she throws up right there on the floor. Herc is pale and shaking, his eyes wide and too full of emotions. It's the only thing keeping her from punching him.

"You couldn't even tell him?" she spits out with the rest of the bile. "Really, Herc? Really?" She regrets her words when his eyes go dead.

"Mum!" Charlie is at her side in the next second and she pushes him away so she can breathe, but her hand still stays on his arm. "You okay?" She wants to nod but instead shakes her head briefly, lips pressed into a thin line. He lets go of her then and she walks away, needing time for herself. Charlie asks Herc the same question, but she is out of the door before she can hear his answer.

\---

Charlie has his father's empathy. Chuck had his mother's temper.

\---

It's Raleigh who suggests it first and Gottlieb who does his best to prove it.

"If the blast brought you here, couldn't it have done the same to Pentecost and Chuck?" He rubs his neck awkwardly when she looks at him. "Bringing them to your universe."

There is something terrible in Herc's eyes at the idea. It's called hope. Angela prays that Becket is right.

\---

It's Charlie who has the idea of comparing the data from the Breach and their Striker Eureka to find a way into the other universe.

Everyone looks at him strangely, like they realize for the first time that he isn't just a hot-shot pilot. Everyone except her and Herc. She smiles smugly at them and Herc looks away, quiet pride in his eyes, not just for her son, but his.

\---

It's Gottlieb and Geizler that figure out how to open the Bridge between their universes to allow communication. Gottlieb refused to call the wormhole Angela and Charlie fell through another Breach. They still work on finding out how to send people through it, though.

\---

It's Stacker Pentecost, both of them, who beats them by half a minute to establish a connection between both LOCCENTS. Angela and him have never quite gotten along, they grudgingly respect each other and connect over their worries for their children, but that and almost ten years of shared history is about it. It's clear that the other Pentecost is friends with Herc. Figures.

Stacker Pentecost is a fixed point, a mountain standing in the way of a hurricane. It holds true in both universes.

"That was fast," Herc tells him gruffly and Pentecost nods.

"Have to thank Ranger Hansen for it. Your boy's got some good ideas," he tells him and Herc bows his head taking a moment to not crumble with relief.

It's then that the scientists storm in, frantically talking on both sides of the monitors. It takes two sharply shouted orders to get them to calm down, and that's before they discover their other selves on the other side. When they finally manage to stop geeking out, they tell them the good news that they found a a way to establish a Bridge between their worlds strong enough to bring someone through. It's what Angela gathers at least between two sets of excited and acerbic scientists talking over and around each other.

"There's a catch though," Newt says and the other Newt nods enthusiastically.

"If my calculations are right," Gottlieb starts and his other self adds, "which they always are,-"

"We can only send one person through the wormhole," they both finish in unison. "For now anyway," one Herman Gottlieb adds. “We can bring the others over later, probably.” Those are word combinations Angela doesn't like, they usually mean it's not going to be possible. As if on cue, Newt speaks up.

“That is if we can open it ever again.”

"Now you just have to pick one," their Newt says and both of them nervously joke, "Perhaps draw straws."

Angela is unimpressed. She and Charlie share a look. They won't go without each other. Mako lowers her eyes for a moment, shielding them from everyone else, but otherwise her expression betrays nothing. It shouldn't be a question who goes through.

"I swear to god, Pentecost," says Angela quietly, "if you don't get that boy back home-" Both of them raise their hands in defeat. She can't even properly tell them apart.

"You tear open another Breach?" Pentecost asks tiredly. There is no doubt that he's her Marshal.

"Damn right."

"I'll help," Charlie volunteers with a grin.

"That doesn't surprise me," Pentecost says.

"And one other thing," she says. "Take care of my damn cat." Pentecost merely nods, years of dealing with Angela Hansen having worn him down. Moritz is a cat from hell, or at least the destroyed streets of Manila. In another world she's also the Hansen's Mascot.

\---

Chuck Hansen is sharp angles, the hard set of a jaw and eyes that give away too much, if you bother to look long enough. Angela has a feeling that most people don't. His face is carefully neutral and his posture confident when he returns. His eyes are fixed on Herc. He avoids looking at her and Charlie after the first time his gaze slipped over them. Herc's eyes are shining with tears but it's painfully obvious that even now he has no idea how to approach his son. Chuck's facade is beginning to crumble at his father's inability to make the first move, anger battling with helpless disappointment on his face.

It's the dog that saves them all from an impending disaster. Max barks and runs towards his owner who swoops down to hug him. "Hello there, boy," Chuck says through his own tears and squishes the dog's face, kissing him on the head.

"He's missed you terribly, wouldn't even eat half of the time," Herc says. Angela would like to point out that Herc himself looks a bit underfed. Instead she nudges him against his ankle and when he looks at her briefly, she jerks her head sharply at his son. It's all he needs to gently touch Chuck's cheek. The boy looks up, eyes filled with surprise and barely hidden hope. Herc pulls him up by the neck then, crushing him into a long overdue hug. Chuck doesn't respond at first, but then hugs him back just as fiercely.

"Jesus, that was close," Charlie mutters quietly into her ear.

After that Striker Eureka's ground crew pushes in to properly welcome their lost son back. Even Mako and Raleigh shake Chuck's hand.

Angela retreats, giving them space.

\---

It doesn't even take a day for Charlie and Chuck to end up in a fist fight with each other. She doesn't know what brought it on but has a million ideas. Between the two of them, their issues could've clogged up the Breach.

Herc tries to get in between them, but she plants herself in front of him and tells him in no uncertain terms, "Let them." The boys need to get it out of their system, whatever it is.

When you pilot long enough you look at every fight differently, judging for drift compatibility. Their boys have it, undoubtedly. Chuck has a shorter fuse and it impedes on his concentration, while Charlie is more controlled through years of balancing out his mother's temper. When Chuck lands a hit it comes down harder than anything Charlie manages to throw. It's a beautiful dance fought with fists and the occasional swearword.

This, Angela thinks, is what true drift compatibility looks like. People say that it's like a dialogue. Their sons have a long one in which each says what he wants with his fists.

It ends in a draw with half of the remaining Shatterdome crew watching. It ends with both boys spitting out blood and then grinning at each other before bursting into laughter. She can feel Herc's surprise ripple through his body language and on the other side of the circle, surrounding both Charles Hansens, she can see Raleigh and Mako sharing a confused look.

The boys don't notice anyone but each other. Charlie slings his arm around Chuck who declares loudly, "We're going out for drinks."

"Don't wait up," Charlie adds, to her and no one in particular at the same time.

Herc doesn't say anything so Angela does. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

Charlie laughs and twists around to look at her, his arm firmly fixed around Chuck. "I've always wondered what that excludes." It's an old joke between them and a handful of possible traumas for Chuck and Herc. Angela might still wear her wedding ring on the same chain she has her dogtags on, but that doesn't mean she won't enjoy sex when she has the chance to get it. Scott and her had been too similar in that and because neither kept the other in check, there were too many hangovers and blackouts to count. At least she never woke up in his bed or he in hers.

"Don't go home with strangers," she yells after them.

"Got it, bring them back here instead." To her surprise it's Chuck who jokes back and she laughs.

"That's the spirit, kiddo."

\---

When their kids are gone, more than likely getting shit-faced through trying to outdrink each other and the people around them, she grabs two beers from Tendo's hidden stash. It's reassuring that he keeps it in this world as well, several packages of hard to come by coffee stacked next to it.

Herc looks up from his mountain of paperwork, surprise flitting over his face, when she enters his office. _Marshal Hercules Hansen_ his desk plate says. She quietly hands him a beer and takes the seat in front of his desk, propping her feet up on his desk.

"Let's talk logistics," she says, and waits for him to put away some of his paperwork. "Tomorrow the papers will be brimming with pictures of two Chuck Hansens. What's our story?"

He curses. Obviously, Herc forgot to think about that.

In the end no one is truly happy with the story, but it'll have to do. Chuck and Herc Hansen thought Chuck's twin brother and mother died during Scissure's attack on Sydney. In their fabricated truth she suffered from retroactive amnesia and Charlie from selective mutism for so long that he couldn't tell anyone anything. By the time he found his voice again he had thought that his father and brother had forgotten them and couldn't bring himself to tell his mother. Years later, when everyone thought Chuck Hansen dead, the shock of his loss triggered her memory and his brother's grieve overcame the blame he carried for them never returning for him and his mother. It's blatantly contrived, but weirder and more improbable things have happened in an age where monsters are real. Besides, it's the perfect sob story for the media.

She isn't the Angela Hansen that died in this world, though, and never can be. Chuck tells her so when they tell their boys the story they concocted. Charlie looks like he considers punching Chuck again, but she just nods. She doesn't tell him that he isn't her son either, it'd be just cruel. And the only person she can't be cruel to is Charles Hansen, no matter which world.

Later when she catches him alone, she takes him aside and tells him that she'll be there for him anyway, if he needs her. The way Chuck looks, she thinks, it might've been kinder to let her own son get into another tussle with him.

\---

Mako and Raleigh announce that they are a couple just a few days after the Hansen's family story hits the news and the focus of the media shifts immediately towards the two love birds.

It's them playing with the media more than it's the truth, but Angela and Herc are grateful for the distraction from their family. She punches Raleigh in the arm and tells him thanks and Herc's eyes are warm with affection as he pats Mako's shoulder and doesn't need to say anything.

Chuck and Charlie glare at them sourly, for stealing their time in the spotlight and taking away the attention of their parents.

\---

She has never been good at paperwork and Herc isn't that good at it either, but they have a common interest and that is to keep the Jaeger program running. So she helps him out where she can and Chuck and Charlie, inseparable by now, pitch in whenever they can.

She and Herc sometimes spent nights with lukewarm coffee at their side, wading through sheer endless tons of paper.

"How did Stacker even manage this shit?" She mutters more than once, brows creased in concentration, her eyes starting to hurt from having to read too small letters in too long paragraphs.

"I'm pretty sure I already filled out this form twice," Herc mumbles and she leans over to look at it. His handwriting has grown progressively illegible in the past few hours. She can't tell him either because her vision has started to swim slightly and she feels a headache coming on. Why there are still paper forms around is a mystery to her. It's the digital age and she thinks everything should be on computers. Then again, she has seen Kaiju cut through tons of glass fiber cables and power plants, rendering communication and tons of digital data useless.

Her chin rests on his shoulder and his worn, horrible Lucky Seven vest is soft under her skin and, yeah, she gets why he prefers it over Striker's jacket. He smells like musk and old motor oil, traces of the standard issue shampoo saturating the air. It's comfortable and Angela could fall asleep like this. She feels him chuckle as he slips an arm around her waist to keep her upright.

"Tired?" His voice is a rumble that does nothing to keep her from falling asleep. It's as comforting as the vibrations of Striker's machines under her feet and just as reassuring. She nods against his collarbone, slipping off already in a way she hasn't done since...

She jerks up. "Sorry," she presses out. "Better get to bed, s'not like I'd get anything else done." Angela flees the rusty office and once she reaches her own quarters, she punches the wall. This is not happening.

She isn't going to fall for Hercules Hansen. Not ever again. She doesn't think she could live with the pain of losing him twice.

\---

Charles Hansen is the best thing she ever had in any world. Hercules Hansen is the best thing that has ever happened to her.

\---

Charlie slides into the seat next to her on the mess hall table the next morning. For once Chuck isn't following him around. "Heard you punching the wall. What's got your knickers all twisted up?" He asks as he heaps a spoon full of porridge on his plate. The porridge has the color and consistency of wet cement. She stabs at her own sorry excuse for scrambled eggs.

Who taught her son to speak like that to his mother?

Right, her.

"Where's Chuck?" she asks instead of answering his question. Charlie, spoon halfway out of his mouth, grimaces around it. She doesn't know whether it's because of her question, her piss poor evasion tactic, or because the porridge tastes like cement too.

"With Herc, walking Max." It's sad that they both, and probably everyone else in the Shatterdome, consider this a major improvement in their relationship. Charlie starts picking at the scrambled eggs on her plate and watches her intensely.

"What?" She snaps at him and shoos his hand away. He shrugs and pulls a plate with bread towards him, ignoring his porridge.

"Thought we were the functional Hansen duo that actually talks," he says without any heat in his voice. He's just worried, because Angela rarely actually hits the nearest wall. Usually the punching bag in the Kwoon or some newbie recruit has to do.

"Herc," she spits out. "That's what." Charlie raises an eyebrow and there is a shit-eating smirk on his lips that she is pretty sure wasn't there before he met Chuck.

"Yeah? I think he's nice."

"That's the problem."

"Oh?" He asks and then more softly, "Oh."

"Yeah, oh, very eloquent there, son."

He doesn't take the bait, instead rips the bread to tiny pieces without eating any. "I wouldn't mind." Charlie finally says and adds even quieter, "I don't think Chuck would either."

Angela snorts, she wouldn't be so sure. "I would."

They leave it at that, Herc is the only topic they can never properly talk about. It's the only fissure (Scissure) in their relationship. Instead she guides Charlie into talking about his amazing new baby brother. Kid's got stars in his eyes, but then again Chuck isn't any better, and really, they should get these two their own Jaeger.

 

Chuck joins them half an hour later, Max already bounding ahead of him, heading straight for Charlie who enthusiastically scratches him and feeds him bits of destroyed bread. Herc isn't anywhere in sight and she is glad about that.

\---

There is an almost finished Mark VE Jaeger sitting in the docks of the Hong Kong Shatterdome, released by the PPDC from Sydney and handed over to the remnants of the Jaeger program. Raleigh and Mako's Jaeger, based on Gipsy Danger, is being built in the neighboring dock and looks small in comparison.

The Hansens look at their newest addition. This, Angela thinks, is ours. The Mark VE is as massive as Striker and just as beautiful. It makes her wonder why the hell this one was left unfinished when they needed it the most.

Between Striker Eureka's old ground crew and two Charles Hansen it doesn't take long for her to be fully functional. They are itching to get into their own Jaeger, Chuck even more so than Charlie. Angela is itching too, but she resigns herself to cheer her boys on. Herc would love to get into the new beauty as well but resigns himself to paperwork.

They watch their boys' first drift standing next to each other. Angela's hand wants to take Herc's. Their fingers brush briefly when Tendo announces the initialization of the neural handshake, but then Herc starts playing with his academy ring and she crosses her arms watching intently as the new Jaeger comes to life.

The test drifts between Chuck and Charlie went off without a hitch. Tests and real drifts inside a Jaeger are two different things, though. Everyone expects Chuck and Charlie's drift to go perfectly. Instead their first drift is even more disastrous than Mako and Raleigh's first try.

When they exit the conn-pod, they are both white as a sheet. Chuck looks desolately at his father and Charlie doesn't waste time in walking towards his mother and hugging her tight.

His spooked words in her ear break her heart. “You died, mum. You died.”

“What happened?” She hears Herc ask his son. It's a worried father's question after his son's well-being, but she knows that Chuck could easily interpret it as an accusation for screwing this up.

“I thought you saw what happened,” Chuck spits out and violently throws his helmet on the floor. Over Charlie's shoulder she watches Chuck walk away and Herc failing to follow him. For some reason it makes her angry, too.

\---

Hercules Hansen is the best man she knows, either side of the Bridge.

Hercules Hansen is a brilliant leader.

Hercules Hansen, Angela realizes not for the first time, isn't very good at being a father.

\---

At dinner they all eat in silence, Chuck and Charlie still sitting close even after the earlier disaster.

“Looks like you got out of practice, Chuck,” Becket calls over, voice teasing. His stride is sure and his shoulders loose, the smile on his face and the tone of his voice friendly, indicating that this wasn't more than a friendly ribbing. “What's it been? Three months? Imagine how it would've gone if it had been five years,” he says with a twinkle in his eyes.

It's retribution for whatever went on between them before Operation Pitfall and no matter how friendly he made it sound, it was still meant to rile Chuck up. It's Charlie's hand under the table, squeezing his knee that keeps him from doing anything stupid. Charlie is quieter than usual and Chuck still looks frazzled from the drift.

Her son's more grounded and one stupid comment couldn't shake him. He wanted to be the best but didn't need to be, as long as he was the best in his mother's eyes. She had never made him doubt that.

Chuck is another issue altogether. “Very funny, Ray,” he says. The hard set of his jaw, the haunted look in his eyes and Herc's silence made something in her tip over. It had been brewing ever since she and Herc drifted, and been made worse by the night she almost fell asleep on Herc. Her temper was always simmering away in the background, anyway, but now it reaches a boiling point.

“Hey Becket Boy? Wanna go for a round later? Four hits win.”

Charlie sucks in a breath. “Mum,” he hisses, but wouldn't keep her from doing something stupid. He wants to punch Becket in the face just as much as she does.

Raleigh looks slightly unsure and behind him Mako made a disapproving face. Perhaps it was the remnants of their drift or just common sense kicking in, that makes him look down shortly, then shake his head, before giving her a slight smile. “Sorry,” he says.

It could be an apology for his comment or his declination of a fight. Angela doesn't care. She's out for blood.

“Aww, look at that,” she says loudly. “The hero of the PPDC is afraid to go toe to toe with a middle-aged, single mom.” Several people laugh at that. The smile drops from his face. Gotcha, Angela thinks.

“1500 in the Kwoon?” Raleigh relents, earning an eyeroll from Mako he ignores.

“See you around, then.”

Herc looks at her with furrowed brows. “Angela,” he starts, but then only sighs and shakes his head, a bittersweet smile playing over his lips, like he remembers a particularly painful memory. It only fuels her anger.

“I don't need you to defend me,” Chuck declares from the other side of the table.

“Kiddo,” she says. “This isn't about you. This is about me wanting to kick Becket's arse.” Charlie snorts out a laugh. Chuck looks darkly at her.

“He's larger, faster and heavier than you,” he points out. She shrugs.

“I've got two things he doesn't.”

To the credit of any men at the table, none goes for the obvious joke.

\---

The first thing she does when facing Becket is throwing her Bo staff away. Those things always annoy her and it's not like knowing how to fight with a stick has helped a lot of Rangers in a fight against a Kaiju. Raleigh doesn't show his surprise but bows and puts his own staff away as well.

The thing is that Chuck was right. Raleigh is younger than her, faster, larger. In close range combat he seemingly has all the advantages. He's also more unpredictable than her. So while he dodges her blows easily, she barely escapes his first few punches, the ones that are only meant to test out the waters. There is no chance she is going to get through his defenses as is.

The first punch that hits her on the shoulder, she lets deliberately through, though. It hits hard, but not hard enough for him to truly mean it.

“1-0,” Mako dutifully relates from the sidelines.

“You hit like a boy, Becket,” she goads him and gives him a feral smile. “Think you can do better, princess?”

They go for another round and she can barely stand her ground before the second hit catches her on the side of her pelvis. It comes a bit faster and harder than anticipated, but she laughs through the pain, drowning out Mako's “2-0”.

“That's all you got?” she asks, and then leans closer to him and whispers. “No wonder you almost got that bitch of co-pilot killed.” Angela isn't exactly proud of her fighting technique, but if she wants to turn this fight around she's got to hit where it hurts the most. Verbally or physically, and since physically is out of the question right now, well, she resorts to the meanest and pettiest way she knows. No one ever said that Angela Hansen was a particularly nice person.

Angela also goes down faster than a sack of potatoes, her arm twisted to the back, face pressed into the mat.

“3-0,” Mako says calmly and Raleigh is about to say something to her when she makes her move.

There are two things she has going for her. A high tolerance for pain and the knowledge that while Raleigh wants to win, he doesn't really want to cause her pain, not even after her last words. Besides, she is too angry about watching her own death, of knowing intimately how it feels to sent your own son to his death, of watching Charles Hansen hurt and disappointed in himself to stop now.

He hasn't loosened or let go of his grip once she went down, keeping enough pressure on her arm to pop it out of it's socket, if she tries to fight against it. This is what she does. Her shoulder comes out with a loud sound and it shocks Raleigh enough to temporarily let go. She twists out of his hold as she rams her other elbow into his abdomen. Angela moves faster than Mako can count, but Angela keeps count in her head.

3-1

She rolls them over, settles her knee on his sternum.

3-2

Then she punches Raleigh in the face with her good arm.

3-3

For good measure she lands a second punch that probably breaks his nose.

3-4

Herc calmly announces the last score, as Mako rushes over to her Co-pilot.

Angela gets up, panting heavily, ignores Mako. She sees Charlie and Chuck sharing a smug smile before she glances at Herc. There is a half amused, half horrified expression on his face and the look in his eyes is one she knows all too well.

It's the same one Hercules Hansen had when she sent Scott Hansen to the floor of a seedy bar.

\---

She asks Chuck to help her pop the arm back in place and he dutifully obliges, a little awestruck.

“It's an old wound, pops out easily,” she explains to him as she presses an ice pack on her shoulder. “Should get it operated, but so far...” she shrugs with her good shoulder and Chuck nods. No time, monsters to fight.

“You wanna train?” he asks out of the blue and then his jaw clenches, annoyed at himself. “Not now, just,” he snaps out and looks at anything but her.

Angela takes pity on him. “Once my shoulder is healed I'm gonna kick your arse,” she promises with a grin. “But for now I can still hold the punching back. Once I get my arm looked at, that is.” It'll take a bit of figuring out how to and he'll probably have to dial down his punches for it, but they'll do.

\---

She meets Raleigh in the infirmary, both his eyes blue inside and out and a strip plastered to his broken nose.

The fight has left her in sour need of heavy duty pain killers and probably an MRI for her arm too. She'll take the first immediately and saves the latter for another day.

Becket gives her a nod and she returns it before swallowing down a few pills the doctor gave her.

“Good fight,” she tells him.

“You've got quite a punch.”

“My sons have to get it from someone. This wasn't anything personal, okay?”

“My nose would beg to differ.”

“You just said the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time.”

“Message received,” he says, but he's smiling slightly. The thing about Raleigh Becket is, that he is a good man and could be even better now that he starts to move on from his brother's death. He could also be the kind of counterweight that someone like Chuck Hansen needs to stay grounded.

She steps over to him and lifts her hand, pointing at his nose, waiting for him to relax and give her a curt nod. Angela takes his jaw gently between her fingers and turns his head to inspect the nose herself. “Swelling should go down soon enough and you're still young enough for it to heal fast.”

“It's what the doctors said.” He's watching her closely too, probably trying to figure out a few things about her.

“Listen, you're a good person and I respect the things you did. Chuck might be hard to deal with most of the time, but he's a good boy too. He's been through a lot and so have you.”

Raleigh looks amused at her. “Are you asking me out on a playdate with your kid?”

She shakes her head and lets go of his face. “All I'm saying is that he really could use a role model, aside from his father.”

He tilts his head as if the thought has occurred to him for the first time. His face is somber when he nods.

\---

Angela finally manages to make true of her promise to train with Chuck, a few days later when the doctors give her the clear.

They start out with a warm-up, nothing too much, still conscious of her shoulder and so it's not enough to make her take off the too wide sweater she appropriated from Charlie. Afterward, they take turns holding the punching bag for each other, even though Angela goes for it far less then Chuck. The atmosphere between them is light, even when they point out small flaws in each other's technique. It's not quite like training with Charlie, she notes. Chuck is more force and speed than finesse and calculation.

If those alien fuckers ever come back one day, they are going to be in for one hell of a surprise, Angela figures. Charlie and Chuck make a wonderful combination.

A part of her prays that neither of them ever has to see that day.

They fall into a rhythm pretty easily and switch in unfixed intervals. On one of his turns she points out that he is really good.

“I'd have to be, to become a pilot,” he replies, focus unbroken. Trust him to take a compliment as an insult.

She sighs, and that gets his attention. “Focus,” she reminds him and he quickly follows her lead. “I mean it, you really are good.”

“I know,” he replies but sounds less insulted than the first time around and hesitantly adds, “Thanks.”

The way he holds himself and aims, his footwork, is slightly different from Charlie. Then again, she trained Charlie and Herc most likely trained Chuck most of the time.

“Herc taught you, didn't he? Because if it was Scott, I'm going to have to punch someone in the face.” Chuck laughs at this. It's not a soft laugh, it's sharp and a bit rusty. It's just as beautiful as Charlie's full body laugh.

“Yeah, when he had time.”

“I used to teach Charlie,” she says conversationally. “I've always feared it wouldn't be enough.” It barely hadn't been enough to survive.

“He's alive, isn't he?” Chuck offers and hits the bag a few more times, going quiet again, lost to some thoughts she isn't privy to. His focus doesn't falter, but there is obviously something nagging at him. She doesn't prod him, he'll get around to it eventually. If he won't she just has to sic Charlie on him.

“My Mum used to teach me, too, before –” he finally says and his next hit comes harder than the ones before. If she and Charlie haven't talked about Herc in seemingly a lifetime, she wonders how long Chuck and his father haven't talked about their Angela.

“Scissure.” Ten years and she still feels like she might choke on the word, the name given to the monster that took her husband. Herc's loss is still an open wound in her soul, barely covered by whatever scar tissue she amassed by fighting Kaiju.

Chuck nods curtly, face closed off.

They go for a few more sets, the silence hanging heavy between them. When it gets too much, she motions for him to switch positions. Angela needs to get out of her own dark memories and rid of the rage inside her those bring on. There is no better way to do that than to punch things. It's an old Hansen family wisdom.

This time she really goes for it and halfway through she needs to get rid of the enormous sweater, already starting to cling to her uncomfortably. Her shoulder is burning, but it doesn't make her stop. It's only a after a few hits that she notices Chuck's eyes focused on her chest region, brows furrowed. It's not the look that many men have given her. She's sure the PPDC's psychologists would have field day otherwise.

“Something wrong?” she draws him out of his thoughts. It's only then that he seems to notice where he as been staring at the last minute, there is a flash of embarrassment creeping over his face.

“Your wedding ring,” he says, and rightly her dog tags are out, the golden band she got on her wedding day wedged between them. “You're still wearing it?”

She stops and shrugs. “Till death do us part. I figured I'd let go of it when I die,” she says.

“Dad's got lost during the attack.” Angela doesn't need to ask which attack he means. Chuck looks angry at the thought, as if this is another small thing he blames Herc for.

“My husband kept his in the house because he didn't want to lose it. I figured it was the same for your Dad,” she tells him quietly. Scissure, her Herc and his mother are the things that even in passing hurt worse than any punch delivered by a Kaiju.

“I guess,” Chuck concedes and Angela puts it down as a small win.

“Herc lost it once, right at the beginning, before Charlie was born,” she continues, and the words come easier than she thought possible. “During training with his unit. He lost the damn thing in the middle of the track.”

“He shouldn't have it with him there in the first place,” Chuck points out, because he can just as easily blame Herc Hansen for wearing his wedding ring and almost losing it as he can for not wearing it.

“Yeah well, you try telling Herc Hansen that he can't do something.” That's something all Hansens have in common. It makes him chuckle.

“How did he get it back?” Chuck asks and seems to be genuinely interested. It occurs to her that he might even know less about his parents relationship than Charlie does.

Angela never quite managed to make herself speak about Herc and everything she told Charlie after Scissure was dropped like bombshells on him. Things she knew he needed to know and things she disliked remembering simply because every good thing she had associated with them was gone. Except for that one sacred thing that was Charles Hansen.

Mostly she had told him when she was too emotionally drained to care too much. Small snippets of information dumped on him after a Kaiju kill or hours spent training together. Stories shared when she had shared a bottle of vodka with the Kaidanovskys beforehand, words slurred to be almost unintelligible. Terse answers spit out when Charlie managed to ask himself. It hadn't been nice and it hadn't been fair, but she had told him from the beginning that she couldn't give him more. Charlie had understood. For him every new information about his father had been a blessing and a curse, because it was something new learned and something new added to the list of things that hurt remembering.

When Charlie had been younger she had thought that most of the stories about how she and Herc got together weren't exactly suited for his age. You don't tell a six year old that your first date with his father ended in a strip club, or that you met when you punched his uncle in the face. You don't tell your ten year old kid that you only agreed to go on a date with him after he beat you in the ring or that he made his proposal at the same place and ended with the conception of Charles Hansen.

So she had given him those memories later in life, strewn out like paper trails to the past.

Chuck Hansen, she is convinced, didn't even get that.

Herc has always been a man of action and not one for many words and guarded his secrets closely. Chuck doesn't strike her as someone seeking information from a father he only shared the drift, inherent stubbornness and painful memories with. Memories that must be eroded and distorted by time and so Angela Hansen's death looms larger over them than even she can imagine.

Chuck deserves to know those things, though, as much as Charlie had. So the Angela Hansen who survived the Kaiju War finds herself talking. She tells him how Hercules Hansen got the entire base involved in finding one simple wedding ring. It makes Chuck laugh and Angela finds that it is far easier to tell him those stories than it was telling Charlie.

Perhaps it is because they understand each others pain but it's not a shared one that doesn't get lesser by it but accumulates until it's almost too much to bear. Perhaps it's because when she looks at Chuck she doesn't see Herc as much as when she looks at Charlie.

They sit down on the floor of the Kwoon, backs against the wall and she pours out story after story. Chuck soaks them up like a tree starved for water. He never fails to react, whether it is with a smirk on his lips, by being mildly disturbed or with shaking his head in disbelief.

Only right at the end does he go quiet, when she recounts the events of their fifth anniversary, involving a water balloon battle and so much ice cream that the entire Hansen family felt ill afterward.

“Yeah, I remember that one,” he says and his voice is thick and rough. When she turns her head, Angela sees that his cheeks are wet.

It's old instinct that makes her reach out and take his hand in hers. He jerks away, violently, and curses. “Don't,” he grits out and tries to rip his hand out of her grasp. It's one word that can have several meanings. Don't touch me, is the obvious one. Experience and intuition tell Angela that it means 'don't let go'. So she doesn't.

“It's okay, I won't tell anyone,” she promises him quietly, while he looks at her wide eyed and terrified and angry. Angela squeezes his hand again and a shudder goes through his whole body as Chuck realizes that there's someone who won't just let him walk away.

She reaches out with her other hand and draws him into a hug. Chuck breathes out and another shudder shakes his body and then his arms lock around her, too. It's almost too tight, his grip too strong, but Angela Hansen isn't made of glass. She twists them around until his head fits into the crook of her neck and his body shielded from anyone who might walk in. She runs her hand over his short hair.

“Shh, baby, it's okay, it's okay. Let it out. I've got you,” she repeats like a mantra while Chuck Hansen shakes in her arms, his tears soaking her shirt.

“I miss her,” he mutters against her collarbone, “I miss her so much.”

“I know, I know,” she says, “I'm here now.” And against her collarbone she feels Chuck scream silently.

From Herc's drift memories she remembers the little boy who was already too old to scream for his mother and who didn't care. Who screamed until his voice was too raw to continue.

It feels like he never stopped screaming for her in silence ever since.

Until now.

\---

In second grade all children were supposed to draw a picture of their favorite superhero and of what they one day wanted to be.

The other boys drew Spiderman and Batman, astronauts and firefighters.

Charles Hansen drew his parents.

\---

It's shortly after her training with Chuck that Charlie corners her at breakfast. Herc and Chuck are walking Max together, a habit they have formed by now.

“Did you set Becket up?” He leans casually over to grab the fruit loops some new investors have sponsored.

“You jealous?” she gets out through a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

Charlie just raises an eyebrow at her, unimpressed, reaching for the milk. “He needs some other friends and I've already made new ones here. Just wondering.” For Charlie, like for Herc, it has always been easy to make new friends. It's the mostly easy going nature they both possess, she reckons. Her boy has established a quick rapport with this world's Tendo Choi and for some reason he and Dr. Gottlieb really get along, as well.

“Might've given him a little advice,” she admits after flushing down the rest of the eggs with already cold coffee.

“With your fist?”

“Shut it, kiddo,” she admonishes and Charlie laughs. “It's not like you haven't sent Chuck after me, she says.” Charlie just smiles innocently at her. They eat in silence for a bit after that, until Charlie breaks it.

“I think we should try again.” He doesn't need to tell her what he is talking about. She just prays that he is right and him and Chuck are both ready to drift again.

\---

When the two boys step into their new Jaeger again, she isn't the only one nervous. Herc twists his old ring again and again and Raleigh can't decide whether to cross his arms or fold his hands behind his back. Mako and Tendo are the only calm presences in LOCCENT.

“Prepare for handshake, Hansen Boys,” Tendo says.

“We are,” Chuck says and Angela can only tell that it's him because he sounds gruff.

“Let's get this show on,” Charlie adds confidently.

“As you wish. Initializing neural handshake,” Tendo announces and then they are on.

Angela holds her breath and so does Herc. This time their hands find each other without a hitch and she squeezes his hand just as tightly as he does hers.

“Left hemisphere calibrating. Right hemisphere calibrating. Neural handshake stable and holding. You are doing exceedingly well,” Tendo says, unable to keep it unimpressed.

“Wings Obstacle ready for launch,” both boys say in unison, naming their shiny new Jaeger. It's the most marvelous and creepiest thing she has ever heard. Angela starts to smile. Next to her Herc lets out a soft laugh.

“Wanna take her for a spin?” Tendo asks them and the answer is a short, “Fuck yes.”

When they return after their successful test run, Angela hugs them both at the same time as they step out of the cockpit. It almost dislocates her shoulder again, but it's totally worth it.

“That's my boys!” she crows proudly. Charlie smiles brightly at her and Chuck looks to the ground lips thinly pressed together, unused to such praise from someone he's grown close to.

Mako gives them both an approving nod, while Raleigh shakes their hands and playfully punches Chuck's shoulder, making him smile.

Herc stands aside, pride in his eyes. Angela steps over to him and elbows him in the side. “Tell him,” she says.

Chuck's like a bloodhound sometimes, because his head immediately picks up when Herc walks over, turning away from Raleigh and Tendo, who had joined them as well. If it isn't almost a tragedy it might've been comical how Chuck's eyes widen when Herc, for the first time in far too long, tells him that he's proud of him.

Chuck briefly looks away. “I know, Dad. Don't need to say it,” is what he replies. Herc, to her and -by the side glances- everyone else's surprise, reaches out and squeezes Chuck's shoulder.

“Just wanted to say it out loud, okay. I'm proud of you,” he repeats for good measure and ruins it by adding, “Of both of you.”

Angela actually rolls her eyes at that but let's it go. Chuck still looks content.

\---

The party in the aftermath of the successful drift is not on the level of the Glory Days and Scott Hansen, but it comes pretty damn close. Angela stays back more than she used to, because you need a Co-pilot to keep up with this shit and a solid meal and right now she has neither. The entire day she was too nervous herself to eat much and Charlie moved on successfully to his new drift partner.

So she contents herself to mainly watching, drinking sips from her already warm bottle of beer and checking out the available men for a night. She and Herc might gravitate around something, but that doesn't mean she can't stash in a quickie to clear her head and see if this is more than attraction and reminiscence. To her dislike most of what she sees is too young for her taste, already hooked or she remembers that this particular tech wasn't all that good from another universe.

Charlie flops down next to her for a second, limbs loose with booze and a dopey grin on his face.

“All alone?”

She taps her bottle. “As long as I've got this, I'm in good company.”

He laughs and puts a lazy arm around her. His gaze sweeps over the crowd, fast and assessing. “At least it's better than anyone you might find here.”

“What has the world come to that my son knows my type?” she mock-wonders. Charlie had played dutiful wingman in the past for her and she for him. It's not what parents and children usually do, but it's a sure thing for most Co-pilots that aren't together. She and Scott did it too and she knows that once upon a time even Stacker Pentecost hadn't been entirely cut of from the rest of the world and got hooked up by Tamsin Sevier.

There are days she misses Scott Hansen, her terrible brother-in-law and her brilliant Co-pilot. The things he's done might have been thoughtless, stupid and illicit, but he hadn't been a bad person all around. Then there are other days, when she still wants to punch him in the face.

“Don't know, just know that we saved it and that there is at least one man in here who is your type, mum,” Charlie cheerfully counters.

She elbows him in the side. “Stop pushing it, kiddo. If you want a new daddy, I suggest you go looking for one yourself.”

“Gross, mum, gross,” Charlie replies, but hasn't stopped smiling. “And haven't you read the papers? I didn't mean Herc.” At that her cheeky bastard son has the audacity to wink at her jauntily. Angela bursts out laughing.

God, she hated the press and some articles. It already started out with the rumors of her and Scott, which they themselves never failed to spur on out of sheer spite. She doesn't think there is one press picture in which they aren't at least holding hands or cuddling. Later some articles had been decorated by thinly veiled insinuations about her and Charlie's relationship. Mostly there had been questions about whether being so close to his mother wasn't influencing Charlie's own development and other such sweet things.

In good old Hansen fashion, and one of the small salutes to Scott Hansen she had allowed, they had kept up the tradition of messing with the press. Holding hands, standing too close in photos and making lewd comments were only a few examples that drove reporters wild and grew another grey hair in Stacker Pentecost's hair.

Angela bet that Herc and Chuck never had the same problems as her and Charlie and she secretly envies them for it.

“Don't you have a new Co-pilot to annoy?” she shoos him off and Charlie shrugs.

“Loo,” he explains taking a gulp from his own beer.

Before she can even contemplate whether Chuck got lucky with one of the Jaeger flies or really had to go, he turns up again like a bad penny.

Charlie's face lights up like a thousand volt bulb. Angela wonders what the press would've made of that and figures she doesn't give a damn. She just pushes Charlie up and towards his brother. It doesn't take much. Charlie stumbles over to him, throws his arm around him and raises his bottle for a toast.

“To the most awesome Co-pilot and brother in the world,” he states loudly and everyone dutifully cheers. Chuck rolls his eyes and looks at him like he's lost it, but there is the tiniest smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Whatever Chuck says next gets lost in the noise of the people around her, but from what Angela can see their interaction devolves rapidly into banter and is on the fast lane to having a friendly throw-down in the middle of the floor.

“Just imagine what it's going to be like when they do get around to kill a Kaiju,” an amused voice rumbles into her ear. Ah, there he is, her own personal bad penny.

She looks over to Herc, who just settles down on Charlie's place, but with a lot more personal space involved. His smile is something between affectionate, cocky and shy and it makes her heart skip a beat. She blames it on the change of music.

“Think they will ever have to?” Angela asks him. Herc looks over at them, his face lined with a gentle sadness.

“What's the odds? We just threw a nuclear bomb at an incredibly powerful alien species that had it out for us even before that,” he says calmly.

Angela closes her eyes for a moment. “Yeah, that's what I thought.”

“They'll be fine. We'll be fine,” Herc assures her.

“You sure?”

He points the bottleneck of his beer in the direction of Chuck, who is plowing his way through the crowd, two glasses in hand, heading straight for Charlie. “That's my son,” Herc says quietly, proudly, and then gestures towards Charlie. “And that's your son. Don't think we'd get better chances than that.” Sometimes Herc Hansen finds his words after all.

She clinks her bottle against his and gives him a half smile. “To our boys,” she says and downs the rest of her warm beer.

Herc does the same and then offers to get them new ones. She hesitates for a moment. There is something in his voice that suggests he means more than that. The moment doesn't last long.

Angela agrees.

\---

Chuck Hansen is his father's son.

Charlie Hansen is his mother's boy.

But it's Chuck who comes after his mother and Charlie who comes after his father.

Perhaps that will be enough to save the world a second time.

\---

**Author's Note:**

> This story was meant to be a short one-shot that grew out of control and finally became a Big Bang entry. It is still growing and there might be a part 2, which will feature (among other things): Scott Hansen, the Hansen's cat from Manila and Other!Mako.


End file.
